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TUNISIA ENSHRINES GENDER EQUALITY IN
NEW CONSTITUTION
Tunisia’s constitutional assembly
voted to enshrine equality between men and women in its draft
constitution, safeguarding the country’s status as having the Arab world’s most
progressive laws on women’s right.
The text
enshrining gender equality was approved by 159 lawmakers out of the 169 who
voted. Women's rights activists in Tunisia hailed the provisional approval of article 20,
which states that "all male and female citizens have the same rights and
duties. They are equal before the law without discrimination".
"We
wanted to add details that would ban discrimination based on sex or skin
colour," Ahlem Belhaj, former president of the Tunisian Association of
Women Democrats, told AFP.
"But it
is very good news that (gender) equality has been adopted. It was our demand
and it's a victory," she added.
Tunisia has
set itself a tight timetable for adopting the long-delayed new charter of
January 14, the third anniversary of the overthrow of dictator Zine El Abidine
Ben Ali in the popular revolt that sparked the Arab Spring.
Since the
1950s, when it gained independence from France, Tunisia has had the Arab
world's most progressive laws on women's rights, although men remain privileged
notably in terms of inheritance.
Some have
accused the outgoing Islamist-led government of wanting to roll back those
rights.
Rights
groups have reservations
Ennahda, the
ruling Islamist party, sparked a storm of controversy in 2012 when it tried to
introduce the concept of gender "complementarity" rather than
equality into the post-uprising constitution.
The new text
was agreed during recent negotiations between Ennahda and the secular
opposition, which thrashed out a series of compromises aimed at bringing about
an end to the political crisis triggered by the assassination of an opposition
politician by suspected Islamist militants last year.
Rights
groups had expressed reservations about the article on gender equality, arguing
that it limits the rights to citizens and not foreigners, and does not specify
the prohibited grounds of discrimination.
They urged
the assembly, in a joint statement last week, to "enshrine the principles
of equality and non-discrimination before the law and extend it to anyone
subject to the jurisdiction of Tunisian authorities, including both citizens
and foreigners".
"Article
20 should specify that discrimination, direct and indirect, is prohibited on
the grounds of race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other
opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status," said
the NGOs, which included Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
Article 45,
which would guarantee the protection of women's rights by the state and the
"equality of opportunity for men and women," has yet to be examined.
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